BMW guys vs Brit car guys

I'd like to pass on an observation to you guys and see what you think. If any of you have been to my house you would already know that there are cars everywhere and just about anything you would want to work on said cars. All are Brit cars except for the 2002 race car. Occasionally someone who will come by to buy a part or look at a car, etc. Whenever that person is a Brit car guy, they just walk around making small talk and generally acting like no big deal. Whenever a BMW guy comes by, it's like a kid in a candy store. Their eyes light up, millions of questions, can't get them to leave kind of thing. Is it just normal that all brit car guys have half a dozen cars and a killer shop, or is it just normal that BMW guys are used to paying someone else to do the work for them?

BMWs normally work. British cars normally do not. The BMW guys don't recognize that.

I know what you mean. When I first got my triumph I would go over to my friends shop in, which has about 20ish old MGBs and midgets scattered around in different states of returning to the earth. The first time I was there I could have looked at them for hours. Now three years later I can easily walk by the without much of a second glance (except for the GT6 there which I want). The BMW shops I have been don't have fun fields of old parts cars, just boxes of parts. Its just rarer to see lots of parts and pats cars as opposed to just boxes.

RossD wrote: BMWs normally work. British cars normally do not. The BMW guys don't recognize that.

This exactly.......

I was going to think of some other reason, but have two brit cars - not running at the moment and one bmw that works. carry on

British cars work just fine...after you put a Japanese engine in them.

How many of the Brit cars work? Just looking at a bunch of cars that don't work isn't really fun.
All the Brit car guys I know like looking at any car and most will chat for a while and others will conduct their business and leave.
I have one Brit car that doesn't run, naturally. And one German car that does run, although not BMW. Opel GT.

My experience is

My 330xi runs all the time, has spunk, comfort and reasonable mileage

My RR runs after extensive repairs, sucks down premium like it owns an oil field

My 5 Stags do not run

My 2 Mercury Capris do not run

In reply to aussiesmg:

My TR4 runs 70% of the time, but only runs well 5% of the time.

My VW ran every time, up until I wrecked the engine. And then it kept running.

You have a field of whore cars. The MG guys are used to this flavour of whore. Maybe even tired of em. The BMW guys are excited by the novel and exotic breed. The smells alone are probably intoxicating to them (LBCs all have a distinct smell in my mind). Your lucky you don't have to pour water on the BMW guys to get rid of them.

Perhaps if you turned the tables and had a yard full of BMW stuff and only one LBC the reactions would be reversed?

So basically Brit car guys are so used to non running cars that they lose their charm? Sounds about right.

Depends on the kind of BMW guys you have around you, I guess. I own three of them, I have piles of parts in my garage, and I work on them myself.

It's about lower expectations. I'm a guilty one with a non-running Brit car (with a Japanese engine, ironically) and a running BMW (albeit 30 years newer).
I think it's like people going on safari.... lions and tigers and bears are really cool to people who don't live there, but for people who do, it just looks like a mountain of hurt. And pain. And rust and blood and tears and heartbreak for a pile of metal you have named. It's a girl who's good looking but not great, who strings you along like a crack addict. Someday she'll love me. Someday. But she never does. She loves the red red earth more and wants to be one with it. Any pleasure you extract detracts from hers.
What can I say? All this work, and I'm a sucker for her cute accent. Germans can't compete with that.

In reply to Teh E36 M3:

I'm going to save that comment for my files. Very well said.

The mechanic I remember my Dad taking our Triumphs to in the late 70's did British cars, M-B and Datsun Zs.

He liked the customers with the British cars best-- they were just happy he could fix them. The M-B folks were pissed it broke in the first place.

He didn't say too much about the Z's. Here in Iowa, they were returning to the earth too fast to actually invest much in.

I think a big part of it comes down to what's worth keeping around to restore. When BMWs die, most go to the crusher. When MGs and TRs die, they get pushed out back to keep for parts or future resto projects. I'd be willing to bet there is a higher percentage of the MGs and TRs built 25 to 50 years ago still around than their German counterparts. My favorite british car is the TR8. Of the 2800 or so built between 78 and 81, close to half of them are still around and accounted for. That in itself must say something.

JohnInKansas wrote: In reply to Teh E36 M3: I'm going to save that comment for my files. Very well said.

That was a nice thin to say. At best, the relationships men have with their cars are weird. What else can I say though, but that I'm a sticker. I'm 36 and have had the same car since I was 12. We're coming up on our 25th.

Edit: I think that one on the right is the very girl I was referencing in an earlier post.

mazdeuce wrote: So basically Brit car guys are so used to non running cars that they lose their charm? Sounds about right.

Yup. I should have my name changed to RealMiniParkedinthebackoftheshopforthepastsevenyears.

What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine. OK, lets not go there.

Owned lots of classic Brits over the years but never had any desire to own a BMW, although I did own a VW GTI and a couple of Porsches.

TR8owner wrote: What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine. OK, lets not go there.

Well, frankly... there are very few similarities between the two. One is a herbivorous rodent from any of 29 species belonging to the families Erethizontidae (genera: Coendou, Sphiggurus, Erethizon, Echinoprocta, and Chaetomys) or Hystricidae (genera: Atherurus, Hystrix, and Trichys). They have a coat of sharp or quills referred to a guardhairs, that defend and camouflage them from predators.

The other is a machine assembled by employees of the Bayerische Motoren Werke.

Can you elaborate please

Pricks on the inside vs pricks on the outside.

Some of us are professors or politicians, and some of us just get the berkeleying job done.

i think you are trying to compare apples to oranges. if you are trying to compare MG's Triumphs and the like to BMW's or their owners they are not in the same ballpark. i have owned and worked on my share of MG's i got bored with them. they are basic cars and if you learn the electrics and how to maintain it you can have a good daily driver no over engineering here.

the engineering in BMW's are second to none and the shame of it is 90% of the people that buy them have no idea why they are spending so much money on them other than the BMW emblem. it use to be i wouldnt buy any bimmer newer than a 92 mostly 3's and 6's but i have been buying newer and these cars are pretty cool how they are built and they are making me think again. i wonder how much the engineering cost on the belt tensioners on the v-8

if you are talking about jags, astons, rolls and a few others from Britain then you are talking about engineering that's over the top also

I dunno. I think there's a lot of "wank" value with some of the engineering, and I think that some of it is lackluster, in fact. Again, this is coming from someone who currently owns an E36 M3.

-Suspension bushings that wear quickly
-Cooling systems that require 60k replacement
-On board computer that checks "systems" but doesn't display "check engine" codes -E36 coupe's have windows that must slide down in order to open the door. -Undertray that rips off in a light breeze

Mine has been a wonderful car, but they undoubtedly require maintenance, and I don't think have the cold hearted reliability of similar vintage Japanese cars, except in the most mechanical sense (engine/transmission/drivetrain mechanicals).

Teh E36 M3 wrote: I dunno. I think there's a lot of "wank" value with some of the engineering, and I think that some of it is lackluster, in fact. Again, this is coming from someone who currently owns an E36 M3. -Suspension bushings that wear quickly -Cooling systems that require 60k replacement -On board computer that checks "systems" but doesn't display "check engine" codes -E36 coupe's have windows that must slide down in order to open the door. -Undertray that rips off in a light breeze Mine has been a wonderful car, but they undoubtedly require maintenance, and I don't think have the cold hearted reliability of similar vintage Japanese cars, except in the most mechanical sense (engine/transmission/drivetrain *mechanicals*).

There is certainly some planned obsolescence engineered into BMWs built after 1991 to keep the dealer revenue stream open but it is always in easy to change parts like a cooling system you can swap in 45 minutes or a rubber bushing in a cassette that can be swapped in 15 with the right tool. I am always amazed at how much thought went into the assembly when I'm working on them.

Having had to work on VW/Audi, Toyota and now a Chevy truck... I really appreciate the difference. Almost as easy as an MG :)